


I Drink of the River Lethe; I Drink of the River Mnemosyne

by puff22_2001



Category: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon | Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Female Friendship, Gen, Male-Female Friendship, Reincarnation, Sailor Moon R, Soul Bond, sadfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-08
Updated: 2018-04-08
Packaged: 2019-04-20 01:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14249763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: Minako forgot. She will never forget.





	I Drink of the River Lethe; I Drink of the River Mnemosyne

Minako wondered if she had ever truly forgotten. **  
**

(She knew that she hadn’t.)

There would always be a part of her that would know her duty and her place. Serenity had seen to that with her curse. To never die until Saturn obliterated the galaxy.

To never live until the princess ascended and took her rightful place.

Didn’t she remember first of them all? Not even Rei had felt the pull of millenia when SailorMoon fought in front of them– _for_  them.

Minako might always remember, but she was the best at deflection and denial. No one was ever as flexible as her; if that meant forcing her very soul to ignore the call of her princess, so be it.

But Artemis wasn’t Usagi. Minako loved Usagi more than her own life. (Didn’t she give that life, over and over, again and again?) Minako loved  _Usagi_ –not the princess, not SailorMoon.

But Usagi  _was_  the princess and she  _was_  SailorMoon and there was a resentment there that Minako couldn’t ever fully quell. In the darkest part of her heart, Minako hated Usagi for dragging her back into the fight, even before they’d met in this life.

So maybe Artemis was more like Usagi than Minako would acknowledge. Because, wasn’t it the small white cat who found her? Who called to her and gave her the compact and told her to live in mortal danger? Who really was to blame here?

Was it Minako herself? In the darkest part of her heart, Minako knew that she’d failed the princess and so brought down Serenity’s grieving wrath. Minako knew that she (Venus) deserved the eternal pull. How could she blame anyone but herself ( _Venus_ ) when she’d failed in her only true duty?

Weren’t they all bound by starseeds and stardust? Usagi hadn’t asked to be the princess; Artemis hadn’t asked to be her mentor. No one wanted this, in their darkest hearts.

In fact, as she’d hear in the aftermath of their forced recollections, neither the cats nor Usagi herself had wanted to revive Minako and her soldiers. Usagi fought for weeks, all  _alone_ , to spare her girls the same pain. Artemis had almost  _died_ , rather than force them to return to a life of servitude.

 _Minako had forgotten them._  She’d ignored her princess and her best friend, calling to her without sound. Artemis was a brother, a platonic soulmate and she’d forgotten him. She’d let the amnesia take hold and she’d ignored the inklings and the nightmares.

Minako had tried, with her every breath, to forget. It didn’t matter that it was subconscious; that it was her soul’s frantic attempt to protect itself.

Nothing mattered other than the fact that she’d forgotten Usagi and Artemis and the girls.  _She left everyone._  Even with the immeasurable pain, being a sailor soldier had given Minako a reason to live and die, to make every second count.

And she’d done everything in her very soul to forget.

Minako held Artemis to her and covered her eyes, filled with horror and shame.

“How could I forget?”

**Author's Note:**

> http://sailoreuterpe.tumblr.com/post/172711619843/sirazaroff-presidentnerd-presidentnerd - fooze and presidentnerd are evil and I hurt them because they hurt me.
> 
> Also, Artemis is the Best Cat Dad.


End file.
